My article titled At 41, I learnt to become an adult in the Wild was posted on SBS Australia Instagram account. Link here. Over the next few days I watched with joy as so many readers and commented about how it resonated with them. It received over a 1000 likes and I gained 40 followers. As a writer I live for these moments when my writing connects and resonates. This has uplifted me and been the beautiful icing on the cake.

Some comments:
"Such a raw truth ..... Beautiful"
"These words hit hard… I’m not there and wonder if I will get there. I’m very happy for you. Thank you for these beautiful words"
"I read this and my heart ached, my throat tightened and my eyes welled with tears."

And one of my Facebook friends wrote a beautiful message that I want recorded for posterity:
"the comments being made all show you hit a theme that is far more powerful than any of us realise until it is upon us. I love the reference to ties with our cultural and familial past. The thought does occur to me that I am 'next next cab off the rank', so I'm ensuring that my children will have less angst at processing mine down the road. So Ams, the role of a good writer is to spark introspective thought - you did that in spades!"

My latest SBS article about the process of untethering myself from obligation after my mother's death. Read it here.

So happy to be featured in Star Weekly newspaper about my books and upcoming workshop. Read here.

An independent author, or an indie author as we refer to ourselves, is an author who chooses to self publish. One of my favourite self publishing podcasts, Self Publishing Formula, has a tagline that says, ‘It’s never been a better time to be a self published author’ and that is true.​

There is a large and robust indie community, authors who the mainstream publishing industry are unaware of, who make a living from their writing by self publishing. Over the last few years, as the Australian publishing industry contracted and getting publishing contract became harder and harder, I began investigating self publishing and psyching myself to make the launch. And after months of research and preparation, I finally launched myself into the indie world by publishing my first book, The Cuckoo’s Song, my short story collection of previously published and prize-winning stories and have re-released my debut novel as Sabiha's Dilemma.

One of the things I have struggled with in making the transition to self published is transitioning also to marketing. It seems somehow excruciating to promote my own book. In my traditionally published career this was always the domain of the publicist. I knew this was a hurdle that would hold me back from truly being able to make this a success.

So I found a work-around. I was not just going to be an indie author, I was going to be a small press owner. I was not just learning about self publishing for myself, instead I was exploring the possibility of being able to either publish others or provide self publishing services, once I become a successful small press. 

Once I made this decision, it seemed easier to launch into my indie career because it wasn’t just about me, it was about more than me. I’m married to an incredibly talented short story writer, Fikret Pajalic, and have always wanted to see his work published in a  short story collection, so he is going to be my first ‘author.’ 

I attended the Small Press Network Conference and watched a talk by a library distributor who explained the importance of producing a quality product. He held up a book that was self published and pointed out all the ways that it was on par with a traditionally published book, and that the only difference was the lack of a logo on the spine. And that was the final piece of the puzzle. I created an imprint name, commissioned a logo from a graphic artist, and set about creating the foundation for my small press.
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• Website
• Domain name
• Registration as a business
• Logo design
• Domain email address
• PO Box

Book publishing has costs associated wth it: from cover design, to book formatting, to purchasing of ISBNs, paying for proof copies and paying to upload files to Ingram Spark, not to mention editing and proofreading. My day job as a teacher pays my daily life expenses and my self publishing has to be funded by my other writing income: freelance writing, mentoring, delivering writing workshops like the upcoming one at Sunshine Library by the Brimbank City Council in June 2022. ​

I am approaching my new career by exploring the ‘independent’ aspect to its fullest by upskilling myself so that I can undertake as many of these tasks as possible for myself and purchasing software and products that will support this.

• Atticus-I use this program for book formatting. It is intuitive and easy to use. Currently in development there are constantly new updates being developed.
• Publisher Rocket-to research keywords and publication categories. This cuts out some of the thinking about what categories are best to use.
• Canva pro-I use this to create book covers and promo graphics. It also allows me to schedule posts and connect to social media platforms.

I am also using my skills as a teacher and experience in writing teaching notes for other publishers to create teaching notes for all my young adult titles to distribute to schools.

As an indie author there are a few business models to consider:

• Amazon Exclusive-publishing on Amazon and being a part of their subscription service where you are paid for page reads. There are many authors who are successful in this strategy.
• Wide-publishing direct with as many online publishing platforms yourself.
• Offset printing and distributor-paying for printing of books upfront, the more you print the cheaper the per unit cost is. This is only viable if you have a distributor in place, otherwise your books languish in storage.

I am focussing on wide distribution and trying to set up accounts with individual publishing platforms so I can learn how to access their internal promos to sell.​

Pishukin Press books are distributed by Ingram Spark and published on all major platforms: Amazon, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, Apple Books, Google Books.

I am also focussed on true sustainability of my publishing imprint, so being able to provide services that other publishing platforms cannot, as well as providing the best price for my products. Currently when my books are distributed to various platforms the prices vary widely, anywhere from $22 to $30+, and then there are shipping costs.

To that end I have set up my own shop to sell books directly to readers internationally with shipping set up for USA, Australia, Canada, UK, New Zealand, Bosnia and Hercegovina. If you are in a zone outside of these regions and would like to order a paperback direct please email admin@pishukinpress.com with the Subject: Shipping Zones and let me know which shipping zone we need to create to cater for you.

• Paperbacks-Shopify shop is connected to Lulu direct publishing. Books are printed on demand in the country where the order is placed and the reader only pays for domestic shipping.
• Ebooks-selling direct through Bookfunnel delivery.

I am choosing this model as there are more opportunities for direct sales as I segueway into audio books and can provide customised bundles of audio and ebooks.
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I am also able to provide discounts to readers, currently there is a 20% discount on ebooks if you type the discount code PISHUKIN. 

My latest article in SBS Voices is honouring my friendship with my bestie Veronica Ho. So happy that it was published and that these photos showing us over the years. Read here.